The Stakeholder Register

Introduction

Source: Adam Farag, https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsofprojectmanagement/part/chapter-8/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Role of Communication in PM

Communications management is about keeping everybody in the loop. The communications planning process concerns defining the types of information you will deliver, who will receive it, the format for communicating it, and the timing of its release and distribution. It turns out that 90% of a project manager's job is spent on communication, so it's important to make sure everybody gets the right message at the right time.

The first step in defining your communication plan is figuring out what kind of communication your stakeholders need from the project so they can make good decisions. This is called the communications requirements analysis. Your project will produce a lot of information; you don't want to overwhelm your stakeholders with all of it. Your job is to figure out what they feel is valuable. Furthermore, communicating valuable information doesn't mean you always paint a rosy picture.

Communications to stakeholders may consist of either good news or bad news. The point is that you don't want to bury stakeholders in too much information but you do want to give them enough so that they're informed and can make appropriate decisions.

Communications technology has a major impact on how you keep people in the loop. Methods of communicating can take many forms, such as written reports, conversations, emails, formal status reports, meetings, online databases, online schedules, and project websites. You should consider several factors before deciding what methods you'll choose to transfer information. The timing of the information exchange or the need for updates is the first factor. Do you need to procure new technology or systems, or are there systems already in place that will work? The technologies available to you should figure into your plan of how you will keep everyone notified of project status and issues. Staff experience with the technology is another factor. Are there project team members and stakeholders experienced in using this technology, or will you need to train them?

Finally, consider the duration of the project and the project environment. Will the technology you're choosing work throughout the life of the project or will it have to be upgraded or updated at some point? And how does the project team function? Are they located together or spread out across several campuses or locations? The answers to these questions should be documented in the communication plan.

All projects require a sound communication plan, but not all projects will have the same types of communication or the same methods for distributing the information. The communication plan documents the types of information needs the stakeholders have when the information should be distributed, and how the information will be delivered.

The types of information you will communicate typically include project status, project scope statements and updates, project baseline information, risks, action items, performance measures, project acceptance, and so on. It's important that the information needs of the stakeholders be determined as early in the planning phase of the project management life cycle as possible so that as you and your team develop project planning documents, you already know who should receive copies of them and how they should be delivered.

Types of Communication

Completing a complex project successfully requires good communication among team members. If those team members work in the same building, they can arrange regular meetings, simply stop by each other's office space to get a quick answer, or even discuss a project informally at other office functions. Many projects are performed by teams that interact primarily through electronic communication and are, therefore, called virtual teams. To avoid miscommunication that can harm trust and to include team members in a project culture, the project team needs a plan for communicating reliably and in a timely manner. This planning begins with understanding two major categories of communication.

Synchronous Communications

• Live meeting: Gathering of team members at the same location
• Conference call: A telephone call in which several people participate
• Audio conference: Like a conference call, but conducted online using software like Skype
• Computer-assisted conference: Audio conference with a connection between computers that can display a document or spreadsheet that can be edited by both parties
• Video conference: Similar to an audio conference but with live video of the participants. Some laptop computers have built-in cameras to facilitate video conferencing
• IM (instant messaging): Exchange of text or voice messages using pop-up windows on the participants' computer screens
• Texting: Exchange of text messages between mobile phones, pagers, or personal digital assistants (PDAs) - devices that hold a calendar, a contact list, a task list, and other support programs.

Modern communication technologies make it possible to assemble project teams from anywhere in the world. Most people work during daylight hours, which can make synchronous meetings difficult if the participants are in different time zones. However, it can be an advantage in some circumstances; for example, if something must be done by the start of business tomorrow, team members in Asia can work on the problem during their normal work hours while team members in North America get some sleep.

Asynchronous Communications

Getting a team together at the same time can be a challenge - especially if they are spread out across time zones. Many types of communication do not require that the parties be present at the same time. This type of communication is asynchronous.

There are several choices of asynchronous communication.

• Mail and Package Delivery
• Fax
• Email
• Project Blog: A blog is an online journal that can be private, shared by invitation, or made available to the world. Some project managers keep a journal in which they summarize the day's challenges and triumphs and the decisions they made. They return to this journal at a later date to review their decision-making process after the results of those decisions are known to see if they can learn from their mistakes. Many decisions in project management are made with incomplete knowledge; therefore, and reflecting on previous decisions to develop this decision-making skill is important to growth as a project manager.

Communication and Project Manager

As a project manager, you might be responsible for writing RFPs for your organization's projects, or proposals in response to RFPs publicized by other organizations. You might also be responsible for drafting parts of a contract such as language describing the scope of work. At the very least, you will need to be conversant enough with contract terminology so that you can ensure that a contract proposed by your organization's legal department adequately translates the project requirements into legal obligations. Whatever form they take, to be useful, RFPs, proposals, and contracts must be specific enough to define expectations for the project, yet flexible enough to allow for the inevitable learning that occurs as the project unfolds in the uncertain, living order of the modern world. All three types of documents are forms of communication that express a shared understanding of project success, with the level of detail increasing from the RFP stage to the contract.

Throughout the proposal and contract stages, it's essential to be clear about your expectations regarding:

• Deliverables
• Schedule
• Expected level of expertise
• Price
• Expected quality
• Capacity
• Expected length of relationship (short- or long-term)

Take care to spell out:

• Performance requirements
• Basis for payment
• Process for approving and pricing changes to the project plan
• Requirements for monitoring and reporting on the project's health

At a minimum, a proposal should discuss:

• Scope: At the proposal stage, assume you can only define about 80% of the scope. As you proceed through the project, you'll learn more about it and be better able to define the last 20%.
• Schedule: You don't necessarily need to commit to a specific number of days at the proposal stage, but you should convey a general understanding of the overall commitment, and whether the schedule is mission-critical. In many projects, the schedule can turn out to be somewhat arbitrary, or at least allow for more variability than you might be led to believe at first.
• Deliverables: Make it clear that you have some sense of what you are committing to, but only provide as many details as necessary.
• Cost/Resources: Again, make clear that you understand the general picture, and provide only as many specifics as are helpful at the proposal stage.
• Terms: Every proposal needs a set of payment terms, so it's clear when payments are due. Unless you include "net 30" or "net 60" to a proposal, you could find yourself in a situation in which customers refuse to part with their cash until the project is complete.
• Clarifications and Exclusions: No proposal is perfect, so every proposal needs something that speaks to the specific uncertainty associated with that particular proposal. Take care to write this part of a proposal in a customer-friendly way and avoid predatory clarifications and exclusions. For example, you might include something like this: "We've done our best to write a complete proposal, but we have incomplete knowledge of the project at this point. We anticipate working together to clarify the following issues" - and then conclude with a list of issues.

If you are on the receiving end of a proposal, remember a potential supplier probably has far more experience than you do in its particular line of business. Keep the lines of communication open and engage with suppliers to use their expertise to help refine deliverables and other project details.

Assessing New Communication Technologies

New technologies for communicating electronically appear with increasing frequency. Using a new technology that is unfamiliar to the team increases the technology complexity, which can cause delays and increase costs. To decide if a new technology should be included in a communications plan, seek answers to the following questions:

• Does the new communication technology provide a competitive advantage for the project by reducing cost, saving time, or preventing mistakes?
• Does the project team have the expertise to learn the new technology quickly?
• Does the company offer support such as a help desk and equipment service for new communication technology?
• What is the cost of training and implementation in terms of time as well as money?

Communication Plan Template

So how do you create a communication plan?

1. Identify your stakeholders (to whom).
2. Identify stakeholder expectations (why).
3. Identify communication necessary to satisfy stakeholder expectations and keep them informed (what).
4. Identify the time frame and/or frequency of communication messages (when).
5. Identify how the message will be communicated (the stakeholder's preferred method) (how).
6. Identify who will communicate each message (who).
7. Document items – templates, formats, or documents the project must use for communicating.

Virtual PM

Managing a team of people who work side-by-side in the same office is difficult enough. But what about managing a virtual team - that is, a team whose members are dispersed at multiple geographical locations? In the worldwide marketplace, such teams are essential. Deborah L. Duarte and Nancy Tennant Snyder explain the trend in their helpful workbook, Mastering Virtual Teams:

Understanding how to work in or lead a virtual team is now a fundamental requirement for people in many organizations…. The fact is that leading a virtual team is not like leading a traditional team. People who lead and work on virtual teams need to have special skills, including an understanding of human dynamics and performance without the benefit of normal social cues, knowledge of how to manage across functional areas and national cultures, skill in managing their careers and others without the benefit of face-to-face interactions, and the ability to use leverage and electronic communication technology as their primary means of communicating and collaborating. 

When properly managed, collaboration over large distances can generate serious advantages. For one thing, the diversity of team members as per Siebdrat et al. "exposes members to heterogeneous sources of work experience, feedback, and networking opportunities." At the same time, the team's diversity enhances the "overall problem-solving capacity of the group by bringing more vantage points to bear on a particular project". Often, engaging with stakeholders via email allows for more intimacy and understanding than face-to-face conversations, which, depending on the personality types involved, can sometimes be awkward or ineffective.

However, research consistently underscores the difficulties in getting a dispersed team to work effectively. In a widely cited study of 70 virtual teams, Vijay Govindarajan and Anil K. Gupta found that "only 18% considered their performance 'highly successful' and the remaining 82% fell short of their intended goals. In fact, fully one-third of the teams … rated their performance as largely unsuccessful". Furthermore, research has consistently shown that virtual team members are "overwhelmingly unsatisfied" with the technology available for virtual communication and do not view it "as an adequate substitute for face-to-face communication".

Given these challenges, what's a virtual team manager to do? It helps to be realistic about the barriers to collaboration that arise when your team is scattered around the office park or around the globe.

The Perils of Virtual Distance

Physical distance - the actual space between team members - can impose all sorts of difficulties. Most studies have shown that teams who are located in the same space, where members can build personal, collaborative relationships with one another, are usually more effective than teams that are dispersed across multiple geographical locations.

Potential issues include difficulties in communication and coordination, reduced trust, and an increased inability to establish a common ground…. Distance also brings with it other issues, such as team members having to negotiate multiple time zones and requiring them to reorganize their work days to accommodate others' schedules. In such situations, frustration and confusion can ensue, especially if coworkers are regularly unavailable for discussion or clarification of task-related issues.

Even dispersing teams on multiple floors of the same building can decrease the team's overall effectiveness, in part because team members "underestimate the barriers to collaboration deriving from, for instance, having to climb a flight of stairs to meet a teammate face-to-face." Team members end up behaving as if they were scattered across the globe. As one team leader at a software company noted, teams spread out within the same building tend to "use electronic communication technologies such as e-mail, telephone, and voicemail just as much as globally dispersed teams do".

Communication options like video conferences, text messages, and email can do wonders to bridge the gap. But you do need to make sure your communication technology is working seamlessly. Studies show that operational glitches (such as failed Skype connections or thoughtlessly worded emails) can contribute to a pernicious sense of distance between team members. Karen Sobel-Lojeski and Richard Reilly coined the term virtual distance to refer to the "psychological distance created between people by an over-reliance on electronic communications" (2008, xxii). Generally speaking, it is tough to build a team solely through electronic communication. That's why it's helpful to meet face-to-face occasionally. A visit from a project manager once a year or once a quarter can do wonders to nurture relationships among all team members and keep everyone engaged and focused on project success.

In their book Uniting the Virtual Workforce, Sobel-Lojeski and Reilly document some "staggering effects" of virtual distance:

• 50% decline in project success (on-time, on-budget delivery).
• 90% drop in innovation effectiveness.
• 80% plummet in work satisfaction.
• 83% fall off in trust.
• 65% decrease in role and goal clarity.
• 50% decline in leader effectiveness.

The Special Role of Trust in a Virtual PM

So, what's the secret to making virtual teams work for you? We've already discussed the importance of building trust on any team. But on virtual teams, building trust is a special concern. Erin Meyer describes the situation like this: "Trust takes on a whole new meaning in virtual teams. When you meet your workmates by the water cooler or photocopier every day, you know instinctively who you can and cannot trust. In a geographically distributed team, trust is measured almost exclusively in terms of reliability".

All sorts of problems can erode a sense of reliability on a virtual team, but most of them come down to a failure to communicate. Sometimes the problem is an actual, technical inability to communicate (for example, because of unreliable cell phone service at a remote factory); sometimes the problem is related to scheduling (for example, a manager in Japan being forced to hold phone meetings at midnight with colleagues in North America); and sometimes the problem is simply a failure to understand a message once it is received. Whatever the cause, communication failures have a way of eroding trust among team members as they begin to see each other as unreliable.

As illustrated in Figure 8.1, communicating clearly will lead your team members to perceive you as a reliable person, which will then encourage them to trust you.

Leigh Thompson, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, offers a number of practical suggestions for improving virtual teamwork, including the following:

• Verify that your communication technology works reliably, and that team members know how to use it.
• Take a few minutes before each virtual meeting to share some personal news, so that team members can get to know each other.
• Use video conferencing whenever possible, so everyone can see each other. The video image can go a long way toward humanizing your counterparts in distant locales. If video conferencing is not an option, try at least to keep a picture of the person you're talking to visible, perhaps on your computer. Studies have shown that even a thumbnail image can vastly improve your ability to reach an agreement with a remote team member.

Business Case

Discussion: The Ultimate Cost of Poor Communication

Preparation:

Research an example from the news of a situation in which a breakdown of teamwork and/or communication had serious or disastrous consequences. For example, in this article from the Daily Mail, a two-year-old boy died from internal bleeding as the direct result of a total breakdown in communication between his physicians:

General Discussion Instructions:

Write a minimum of one short paragraph and a maximum of two paragraphs. Word totals for this post should be in the 100–200-word range. Whether you agree or disagree, explain why with supporting evidence and concepts from the readings or a related experience. Include a reference, link, or citation when appropriate.

Discussion Questions:

1. Provide a brief description of the situation. Include a link to the article or site, as I have above, where we can find and read the details. (In order to insert this link, copy and paste the URL from your browser window into the text box where you are making your post. You do not have to do anything special; it will automatically be converted to a Web link).
2. Describe or discuss the result of the breakdown in communication and/or teamwork.
3. What, if anything, do you believe could have been done to prevent this breakdown?
4. What can we learn from your example?

Key Terms

• Communications Management: This is about keeping everybody in the loop. The communications planning process concerns defining the types of information you will deliver, who will receive it, the format for communicating it, and the timing of its release and distribution.
• Communications Requirements Analysis: The first step in defining your communication plan is figuring out what kind of communication your stakeholders need from the project so they can make good decisions.